Fun Fall Riding

We had such a nice fall weekend. On Saturday, my niece came out to ride with us. She rode Ranger—who hadn’t been on the trail in a week because of his virus. Since it was his first time out and the weather was chilly, he was a bit of a challenge. He did a couple of his kitten bucks and there were countless spooks, but my niece stayed on and had a good time. Cole was very patient and well behaved. Due to the height of the river, Ellen chose to ride Dante at the barn. She worked him in the arena for a while and then let my niece give him a try. She rode him a few months ago in the arena, and he was totally uncooperative. This time, he was very responsive. We then took him outside with Cruiser, and we rode the barn trail. Both horses did well.



On Sunday, I got to ride Dante on the trail and Ellen rode Ranger. Both horses were awesome—Ranger was much more reasonable than the day before. This meant I could ride Cole on my own—no more being kind to my fellow riders. We went blasting down the trail, and we both had so much fun. Towards the end, a squirrel ran right in front of us. Cole was startled and swerved away and I lost my balance. He wouldn’t stop, and he was running right for the street. I didn’t think I would be able to stay on, and I wanted to keep him off the road. I put my effort into trying to turn him. I started to regain my balance—and he swerved the other way! I nearly lost it, again, but in the end, I lost my other strirrup, instead, grabbed his belly with my legs and somehow found myself right in the middle of the saddle where I belonged. Then he stopped. Silly boy—all over a squirrel.



On the way home, we met Kevin and Starry out for a ride and moseyed on back with him.



Then I got to ride Cruiser again! My third time! I am leading him for 15 minutes and riding him 15 minutes. He is doing well and seems to like it.